FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
JANUARY 25, 2007
Present: Bolter, Boniecki, Bradley, Bratton, Christman, Frederickson, Esteban, Holden, Horton, Johnson, Lance, Lichtenstein, McCullough, Mehta, Parrack, Powers, Satterfield, Thiher, Wilmes, Young
Absent: Bandy, Mosley,
President Bolter called the meeting to order at 12:45.
Senate Secretary Bratton apologized for losing notes for minutes of December meeting and said a reconstructed version would be available at the February 13, 2007 meeting.
President’s Report
Senate President Bolter announced that she had received a copy of an e-mail from Barbara Anderson to Penny Hatfield stating that the 40 point rule will be applied for admissions in the fall of 2007.
She asked Provost Esteban to discuss with the Senate his Extended Academic Council. He explained that he felt that faculty needed more representation in academic matters so he was creating the body that would include the Council of Deans, the Library Director, Chief Technology Officer, two faculty senators and two staff senators. This group will begin looking at campus technology issues at its next meeting.
President Bolter announced the following communications:
1) Public Art Committee has requested that the Senate appoint a member to the Alumni Circle Plaza Public Art Selection Committee. Satterfield explained what the role of such an appointee would be. McCullough volunteered to file that position.
2) There has been a request from IT for faculty input on two issues; the first is when faculty that use WebCT would be least inconvenienced by an upgrade and the second is whether or not we wish to purchase access to Lambda Rail which is a 1Gig e-corridor that could facilitate transfer of dense video or large data files.
3) A request from the Provost for input regarding changing the eligibility requirements for Faculty Excellence Awards. Specifically changing the rule that an individual may win an award only once in their career.
Committee Reports
The Executive Committee will meet with President Hardin on February 8th.
The Committee on Committees is currently working on the annual committee service survey for faculty.
Faculty Affairs I Chairman Young moved and Bradley seconded the adoption of the following resolution regarding enrollment practices.
“Whereas the Faculty Senate was charged with the task of ascertaining whether the undergraduate bulletin put forth a clear and concise policy concerning the admittance of students to a closed class and/or a class for which prerequisites have not been met;
Whereas all individual student’s registration issues are unique and the efforts to resolve these issues vary widely among academic departments as evidenced by differing statements in the undergraduate bulletin and differing traditional practices;
Whereas Banner promises to effectively address the issue of admittance of students into a class for which prerequisites have not been met;
Whereas the affected faculty member’s involvement in the decision to admit students to closed courses and/or courses for which a prerequisites have not been met is considered of paramount importance;
Be it hereby resolved that the Faculty Senate requests that the undergraduate bulletin include a global policy statement clarifying for students and faculty the university’s policy for admitting students to a closed course and admitting students to a course for which prerequisites have not been met.
Be it hereby further resolved that the Faculty Senate requests that the Registrar’s Office encourage each academic department at UCA to develop or update a policy—consistent with the university’s policy—on these issues that includes affected faculty members in the decision to admit students to closed courses or courses for which prerequisites have not been met and that procedures for students and faculty for such a request within each department be made clear.”
Following a brief discussion the motion was unanimously approved.
Faculty Affairs II had no report.
Academic Affairs had no report.
Announcements and Concerns
Provost Esteban mentioned that training on the new registration system was “in the works” but without a timetable at this point.
Johnson reminded senators of the asset allocation seminar today.
Bradley reminded senators of the benefit basketball game on next Tuesday for his grandson.
Boniecki raised a concern regarding the bills that have been filed regarding collegiate textbooks in the General Assembly. Lichtenstein replied that Mike Schaefer in his role as a national AAUP representative was “on top of” the issue and would be happy to attend the next meeting.
Adjournment was at 1:25 pm.